Wizards of Morcar Men at Arms prototypes

[lucapaschi]

Hey all, I think I've managed to locate metal prototypes for the Men at Arms... I say prorotypes because they seems to be the Men at Arms counterpart of the unreleased metal Wizards you sometimes see around.
They are not part of the general Empire Foot Soldiers with swappable weapons line released for WFB - so they're an unreleased model - and they do look like the WoM men.
Here's a pic: WoM plastic mini, two sides of the metal one, the released Empire foot soldier that's closest to the plastic model. Actually, the only big difference is in the head: no faceguard and the feather in the correct position.
It has been confirmed that independent metal minis would be created for playtesting and promotional purposes, sometimes with slightly different features compared to the final plastic production minis. In this case, the bag sits on the opposite side.
Any thoughts? They're marked as GW 91, which happens to be the same marking on the back of (at least some of) the Wizards' prototypes.

[lestodante]

Yes, they are the same metal prototypes you can see on the back of the Wizards of Morcar box.
I have a full set also. The only difference with the other model is the helmet. they are slightly taller than the plastic version and the weapons need some glue to stay in place.
Limited, but not extremely rare. I've seen then often on ebay (and I have 12).

[lucapaschi]

Hey Dante, you mean you have the no-helmet type? I've found a few of the helmet-wearing ones, but only these without anything on their face. There are some released variants with no helmet, but they have a different face/body compared to these.
by the way, it seems to me on the back of the Morcar box there are plastic minis showing: is there an alternate version?

[lestodante]

Yes, it depends by the release. The UK box is showing the prototypes.

Check this pic. It's the UK box. You can see the slotta bases, and the tiles are also prototypes, they have a different tickness with white borders. Also the staff of the Storm Master is very different and he's not wearing his necklace.

20200720_183656.jpg

And here is my box with the metal mercenaries!! I also have he masked version and the other 3 types (different from the Heroquest version but they share the same weapons).

20200720_183725.jpg

[lucapaschi]

Ah, now it's all clear, I was looking at the italian version! It seems the white-bordered mercenaries figures on the back might still be the metal prototypes though, as it seems to me they have the bag on the other side. The minis in the expansion set photo are plastic ones though, the tiles remain the prototypes one.

Nice, so there are more: I still have to find 8 for a full set, then. Still on the hunt for two proto wizards too (got Boroush and Grawshak).